One major lesson following the 2000 presidential election is that the way voters cast their votes is important. Voting technology and ballot design can influence election outcomes, affect how voters feel about their ability to exercise their right to vote, and influence voters' willingness to accept the results of an election as legitimate.

This project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a first step in a series of interdisciplinary projects designed to assess systematically the impact of human factors on different voting technologies and ballot forms. Drawing on the expertise of political scientists, human factors psychologists, design engineers, computer experts, election officials and others, we plan to develop a process for assessing different voting techniques on the basis of the accuracy with which they record voters' preferences, their ease of use, and other key factors related to voter confidence. Our major emphasis is on the interface between humans and machines, comparing voters' use of and evaluations of different voting technologies, especially optical scanning and digital recording electronic equipment.

The first part of the project consists of producing white papers on five subjects: (1) human interfaces with visual formats on computer screens, (2) human interfaces with election technology, (3) the impact of different ballot designs, (4) methods of testing alternative hardware and ballot forms, and (5) developing a database that profiles the characteristics of different voting machines. We will sponsor a conference to discuss the white papers and design a large-scale project to assess human interaction with different voting technologies and ballot designs.

R. Michael Alvarez, "Ballot Design Options" (.pdf format)

John Bremer, "Ballot Design in an Electronic Environment - Lessons from the Online Market Research Industry" (.pdf format)

Frederick G. Conrad, "Usability and Voting Technology" (.pdf format)

Paul S. Herrnson, Richard G. Niemi, Scott Richman, "Characteristics of Optical Scan and DRE Voting Equipment: What Features Should Be Tested" (.pdf format), Table 1 describing Optiscan machines (Microsoft Excel format), explanation of Optiscan variables (.pdf format)

Susan King Roth, "Human Factors Research on Voting Machines and Ballot Designs: An Exploratory Study" (.pdf format)

Michael W. Traugott, "Testing Alternative Hardware and Ballot Forms" (.pdf format)